Riley's Journal

[ems08]

Hi everyone!

I've only had Riley a few months now but I swear I'm already forgetting all the things he's learned. I thought it would be fun to have a thread to share regular pics and videos of his training progress or fun antics.

When we brought him home he was such a baby! He slept at least 50% of the time during the day. He was so tired he didn't even want to wake up and get out of his carrier when we got home.


The first night he slept on the floor of his cage, because he didn't know any better! Thankfully his raiser warned me about that so I didn't freak out something was wrong. (Don't worry the tassle on the foraging toy is long gone too)


The first toy he played with was a "quilt" my mom made him. That's when I realized he was a born chewer.


Major milestones up until now:

Riley's first word was "out" right around the 4 month mark. After about a week he added in "step up" and "good boy" a few days after that. He's said peekaboo and boo when we play the game-- I cover his head with my hand and then uncover, fingers spread wide and say peekaboo. He loves it and holds soo still when I cover his face.

Yesterday for the first time he said "apple" because he was looking for his piece of apple. His veggies (pepper with seeds, chickpeas and peas) were all on his plate, but his apple had been left on his window perch where he was eating it earlier as a treat. I let him out in the living room and he took one look at his plate and demanded his "apple"!

Today's milestone was learning the "spin" command. We've been practicing a little bit and I could use my finger to make a circle over his head and he would do a spin. But today I was able to say "spin" without the finger motion and he did it! We just happened to catch it on video so I'll figure out how to upload it and share tomorrow

One of the things that is unusual about Riley compared to other quakers as far as I've heard is that he is super flexible about new things. He loves having his toys rearranged and new toys put in his cage. I think because I've made a point to do it consistently he's come to expect it and it helps keep him busy.

The thing that has suprised me most though is our bedtime routine. He doesn't really let my mom give him head scratches except for at bed time. He'll go in his cage and she'll scratch his head through the bars and say night night before his cage gets rolled down the hall back to the office. (He has zero cage aggression at this point, but we'll see what happens when puberty hits.) Once in the office he gets fresh water, clean paper, etc then I turn out the room lights and leave a hallway light on. I tell him to "get cozy" and he'll get in bed in the corner of his cage under his toy and then I'll give him head scratches through the bars. He'll close his eyes and be almost asleep and then I sneak out. The only thing missing is him saying "I love you" back to us!

(Feel free to comment or ask me questions, I'm not trying to keep the thread exclusively Riley posts)

 

[Adnansandh]

Owner of any bird must observe the way you did.

 

[SumitaSinh]

Riley is beautiful! I also want a quaker. They're soooo cute.But I am afraid of their cage aggressive behavior...

 

[ems08]

@SumitaSinh I haven't had problems with cage agression yet, but he is only 6 months old. I'm also set up to try to minimize those problems and work around them if they do occur. I made sure that I got a cage where I could change his food bowls out without opening the door of the cage or having to reach inside. I also change his toys and perch placement at least weekly and generally make him a new DIY toy (or reattach new disposible parts to an existing toy) every 48 hrs or so. I try to make it part of our bedtime routine so he has something new to entertain him in the morning before I get up. The benefit of that being he's used to his cage changing regularly and used to me going in it to change it. The only thing he gets upset if I touch it or remove it for cleaning is his bed (seagrass mat platform). Since it's upsetting to him I put him in his travel cage or get my mom to hang out with him and then try to remove and clean everything out of his sight.

I've been procrastinating updating this more because I haven't made an instagram account for Riley yet-- which means no video of the spinning yet.

But today we got some new jingle balls and so far they are holding up to the challenge! They are ironically "Just For Cats" brand but they're all plastic including the bell piece inside so it's not too dangerous if they do break and the seam is pretty sturdy. They're smaller and less hollow sounding? So not quite as pleasant of a sound as the old ones but Riley doesn't seem to mind.



We're using his travel cage as a play space so he can get used to it before the holidays and it's GREAT for throwing toys off of! The door flips down and he's perfected throwing things so they hit the door on the way down and are launched into the middle of the room I've noticed sometimes while I'm working he flies over and starts pestering me and when I think he's being obnoxious it's usually because he's thrown everything on the floor and needs me to pick it back up for him so he can start the game over.



And our glamor shot for the day:

 

[Wardy]

great thread you need to keep it updated so we can follow the journey

 

[SumitaSinh]

Very well written... Thank you so much. Riley is really lucky to have you as parront

 

[ems08]

Riley has been such a good boy lately. We had a few days of confusion when the Christmas tree got put up and my mom established the rule that Riley can't be out of his cage in the living room while the tree is up. Too good of a chance he will decide to check it out and hurt an irreplaceable ornament or hurt himself getting tangled in something. But we have a new routine where my mom joins us in the office for play and training time. We starting working on "come here" with a finger point to the location and he's gotten so good at landing on our arms when we tell him to come. He'll also go back to his cage using that command or stand on the kitchen scale to get weighed (92 grams).

He loves singing songs right now. It's one of the only times he sits still and doesn't chew on anything. We sing the Quaker song, Old McDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jingle Bells, the 12 Days of Christmas, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. And when I say we, I mean mostly me and my mom and Riley listens but he also says key words at the ends of phrases or does long chirps that sound like he's holding a note even if the word isn't distinguishable. Sometimes when he's in his cage just talking to himself he'll do a whole bunch of long notes that I think is him "singing"-- it doesn't match the tune of anything we sing, but maybe that will come with more practice.

Does anyone else's bird not preen after a bath? I don't think he quite knows what to make of water lol. He loves to be spritzed with a spray bottle and will stand in a shallow amount of water in the kitchen sink. But he doesn't splash? He just puffs up and puts his beak in it but doesn't flap his wing or wiggle around like normal birds. I try to show him how by splashing my fingers in the water and he'll shake himself off if I splash him, but doesn't start bathing properly. He has also NEVER tried to take a bath in his water bowl and doesn't understand that he can/should bathe if I give him a rimmed plate or shallow bowl of water on his cage, he either ignores it or treats it like another water bowl. And then when he's done with his bath he just goes back to playing with toys. I tell him to preen his feathers but he just ignores me.

​

He's already mostly dried off here, but just because he wasn't that wet to start with and it had been long enough for him to air dry. It's always ~70*F in our house so I'm not worried about him catching cold but I feel like part of the purpose of the bath is to soften any pins and prompt him to preen. Weirdo!

 

[ems08]

Oh and here is the video of Riley's first spin without a "lure"! He spins all the time now when he wants to do some training and get some seeds haha. He'll do it on my knee, on my arm, on a perch, where ever you ask!
http://instagr.am/p/CXVCQzMF_JK/

 

[ems08]

Riley's chatting up a storm while I work at my desk and he said "whatcha doin?" So I said "I'm working, what are you doing?". He squawked a couple times and then I got a super clear "I love you"!! I thought he said it the other day but it wasn't very clear. This was his first really good one though!

 

[Pixiebeak]

Needs official updates!!
Love his colors!!
Did nest construction ever become a problem?

 

[Parutti]

Haha I also found this today!

He's so smart! I think Opie has a major crush after I just scrolled your whole Instagram I just can't stop staring at Riley, his coloring is breathtaking!

Opie and I have some training catching up to do, too, I can see

 

[ems08]

Oh gosh what a terrible job I've done with updating this! I love seeing Riley's baby pictures and realizing how much he's grown up. I too love his color-- I don't think I shared this before but we actually went to his breeder because I wanted to find out more about her conures. The babies she had weren't out of the nest yet but she had some Quakers that needed socializing so we sat and showed them some toys and cuddled while we talked. Turns out the only Quaker baby still available was the one that fell asleep in my hands. We spent several hours going back and forth on the pros and cons, but ultimately I decided he picked me and that was that, species and color didn't matter.

As for updates, let's see...

He's up to 102-105 grams, so we need to watch his treat intake a bit more carefully. That's on the low end of the typical Quaker weight range, but his vet said at his one year check up that he's a "petite Quaker" and ~100 grams is a healthy weight for him. He just loves to eat-- getting lunch is probably the highlight of his day. Right now he's getting mix of pie pumpkin, cranberry, pomegranate, red/orange/yellow sweet mini peppers, jalapeño peppers, snap peas, chick peas, lentils, frozen corn kernals, and carrot. I also just discovered last week he loves arugula! As soon as he gets the bowl he immediately tosses most of it on the floor of the cage, so I try to give him big enough chunks so he can go back for it later, which he does for the whole afternoon! My mom's taught him that if you give him a taste of something or a treat in his cage bowls are super helpful so you don't drop it. He'll take whatever it is from you and go to the nearest bowl and drop it in! So why he dumps all his food out, I don't know. I may try a plate on the floor again, but his lunch bowl is the only thing he's possessive of/aggressive about, so having the swing door for it is much easier than putting a plate through the main door.

Speaking of food, Riley is so safflower seed obsessed it's like having a lab puppy. He constantly shows off his trick repertoire in an attempt to earn a treat. His current list is wave, step up, spin, high five (each foot), blow a kiss(wave +kissy noise), and give a kiss (beak to nose). He also knows how to "tunnel" through a cardboard cylinder, but he'll only do it when he can see the treat lure at the other end. He plays peekaboo and "find it", especially with my mom. Every night while I'm fixing dinner he starts asking "wanna play a game? Wanna play peekaboo?" Sometimes I do and my mom used to a lot, but she's been sidelined with a leg injury, so I tell him I can't because I'm busy but I'll sing with him instead.

I'll try to get some videos sometime soon but he does his best singing while I'm cooking-- safely inside his cage but positioned so he can see me from the living room. He will sing all the words to Old McDonald-- the duck and pig get repeated the most but sometimes the sheep gets in there too. I sing the Barney song with him (I love you, you love me) and he repeats the phrase "with a great big hug and a kiss (kissy noise)" allll the time. But his absolute favorite is the Quaker song-- for anyone who hasn't heard it, it's to the tune of I'm a little teapot and it goes "I'm a little quaker, green and stout; open my cage and let me out; better pick me up or else I'll squawk; rub my tummy and I'll talk." He can sing the whole thing! I've yet to hear it perfectly in order because the squawking line is his fav and it usually gets repeated a few times lol.

We're also starting to practice Christmas songs! Jingle bells and We wish you a Merry Christmas so far. He's still practicing saying Christmas, it's a beakful and it comes out very whistly right now but it's clear he's trying.

He'll do short flights around the office to get where he wants to go (me-cage-me-cage) but he wasn't flying just for the sake of it, so we've been practicing that a lot lately, along with recall. The living room and kitchen are a big L shape and he's gotten really good at doing a big loop with lots of turns in it all around it! He can really get going fast and he'll fly close to something and then turn quickly to avoid it. My mom gets a little nervous about it and thinks he's being too wild but I remind her how good he is and that he rarely lands anywhere he's not supposed to be. And when he does he still listens and comes to me or steps up if I go to fetch him.

His toy preference changes by the day, so if ever we get to the evening and the bottom of his cage isn't a mess then I know I need to switch it up the next day. He's in a bell/jangly phase right now and also into destroying the plastic grid stuff you can use for craft projects. I just recently got him a platform perch for his favorite corner and he loves it! Sits there quite a bit, but he's developed the bad habit of plucking or strumming the bars of the cage when he sits there, even when there's lovely balsa/sola/etc hanging right there for him to destroy! It's kind of an annoying twangy sound but it also makes me worry he could damage the powder coating on the cage doing that. So I weave the plastic sheets or straws through the bars and he'll chew those rather than the bars themselves. He is still into weaving straws into his seagrass mats, but it hasn't become a problem at this point and it's kind of tapered off in the last few weeks.

He's such a good boy and he has brought so much joy and laughter to our lives. I can't imagine my life without him and I'm so lucky he picked me!

 

[ems08]

Here's some pics!

My niece came to visit and they were mutually infatuated. They would make kissy noises back and forth and he would watch kid shows on her tablet with her.

Evaluating his handiwork when he filled hit water bowl with wood chips...

Oddball that he is, Riley sleeps with his head pressed against the bars of the cage, not tucked back in his feathers. His cowlick was getting more noticeable, so after I took this I added seagrass mat "walls" to his bed area. It worked and it's gotten less noticeable again lol.

Just a recent fav-- it's not easy to get his tail and wing in pics since he's always moving towards the camera, but it's nice to see all his pretty colors!

 

[Pixiebeak]

Riley is incredibly talented! He's picked up 2 new fans with Parutti and I the new members with quakers.
Just what is his mutation called? I've never seen before!

A wonderful and much needed update in his thread!! Truly enjoyed reading and seeing new pictures.

 

[ems08]

Just what is his mutation called?

He's a turquoise opaline. Both of his parents were turquoise as well and he had all kinds of interesting siblings. Two pallid blues, a pallid green, a green crossover, and I don't remember the others. He was one of 11 siblings in his clutch and 10 were boys!!

Story for this morning-- Riley was sitting on my knee and pooped. Well he knows that when he poops I get a tissue and wipe it up and every time he starts mimicking my movement and wiping his beak on me. I didn't go for a tissue right away because I was typing here and he started doing the beak thing, like he was telling me what I needed to do! Such a helpful bird And then of course he has to tear the tissue apart....

 

[Tyrion]

He is awesome

 

[Parutti]

He's such a smarty!!!

 

[ems08]

Riley's home from boarding! We missed him so much, but I'm grateful to have someplace trustworthy to take him for a few days whenever we need it. He got daily play time and the techs and staff there really seem to love him.



When he first saw me, the first thing he said was "Whatchya doing?" Lol! He then asked if he was a good boy and there was someone in the waiting room with another pet and she did a double take, looked over and said "did he just ask if he was a good boy!?" So I guess his mumbling is understandable to people other than my mom and I. You know, like with a toddler you never know if everyone can understand or if only you can!

I think he was a bit stressed and overwhelmed there this time because he lost a bit of weight, started gobbling pellets as soon as he got home, and is now more subdued than normal this afternoon. Seems content, but worn out. Hopefully he'll be back to himself tomorrow after a good nights sleep in his own bed.

 

[Pixiebeak]

Riley i love you! I got a bunch of hens over here who think you're the greatest!

Hope you are back to yourself tomorrow